Did someone order an intergalactic space war with a female lead? Soup's on!

So Steven S. DeKnight should be a name that's familiar to you, but in case you're drawing a blank -- in addition to being the show runner for Starz's Spartacus series, he was also a writer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Dollhouse. Yeah, the man's got the pedigree, which makes us stoked that he's bringing an Aliens-style series to premium cable.

The new series (currently in development) is called Incursion and will owe its still to many groundbreakers, most notably Aliens. According to DeKnight:

    "Nobody does future military better than James Cameron: His designs are just brilliant, and we definitely wanted to push that even to the next level."

The show will also count amongst influences "Halo, Band of Brothers, [and] Black Hawk Down." But what's it about? DeKnight describes it as "a war show that just happens to be against aliens on other planets." But we're not talking about Star Trek types of aliens here. DeKnight is quick to differentiate.

    This is no offense to anyone that does this -- I know exactly why you do -- but [our aliens] are not a human with a prosthetic on their head. No bumpy foreheads.

And, yes, the intention is to have a female lead. But more than that, it will have a considerable female cast. DeKnight says, "Men and women serve in the same platoon." So just like in real life, then? We're fine with that. Will there be any notable connections between Spartacus and Incursion?

    I'm taking the same approach to what I did with 'Spartacus,' in that same-sex relationships are completely accepted. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight or bi or anything -- in the future, that makes no difference whatsoever.

DeKnight hopes to explore polyamorous relationships as well.